Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Hey, welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, do I have a story for you. We are in sections 129 through 132 this week, we’re talking quite a bit about eternity, Celestial kingdom, sealing. Well, what would you say if I told you that on Saturday, May 2nd, 2015, the Rexburg Temple was abuzz? Because John listen to this, an 82-year-old man was going to be sealed that day to his 35-year-old mother and his 38-year-old father. Are you interested?

John Bytheway:               00:45                   They were born on leap year? I don’t know, how does that happen? Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      00:49                   I think you’re gonna love this. Now, this story is told by Diane Packer. She’s a friend of mine. Her daughter is Julie Lewis, and I need to give them credit for this, John, because Diane is an excellent writer, and Julie is an excellent speaker. I actually heard Julie tell this story, and I was able to get the copy of what Diane had written, so they get full credit for how well this story is told and how beautiful it is. John, this story starts on September 9th, 1932. A baby is born to young parents. He is mentally handicapped, and at some time in his early, early childhood, he is quote institutionalized. So apparently this is very common for that day to take a mentally handicapped child and give them to the state. John, this boy, this little boy, his name is Harry.

                                           01:39                   He’s gonna spend most of his life in mental hospital group homes, things run by the government. Now, 47 years after Harry is born, Megan is born. She has a completely different life than Harry. There’s almost no information about him but her from the minute she was born, Diane writes, to her first sounds, she had dotting parents and siblings who cuddled her, nurtured her, and delighted in her very existence. She has lots of pictures and journal entries as evidence. About the time that Megan is taking her first steps, Harry was moved into yet another group home where he would spend 30 years. It was a converted motel. There were several cabin type rooms. He’s got his room and to go eat somewhere, he has gotta go outside and go down to that room and eat. Not a lot of information about him. Definitely a hard situation, John.

John Bytheway:               02:37                   Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      02:37                   A sad situation. Megan grows up, she goes to college. She meets the amazing Cody, apparently, and they welcome their first child in 2000. They end up having two other children, one in 2003 and another in 2005. John, what happens next is that Megan becomes certified to care for mentally handicapped adults. It was much like foster care. They help these older adults. Maybe their parents are aging and they can’t care for them, or maybe there is no family at all. So you interact with these mentally handicapped adults, and this is something that Megan and Cody and their family did. In December of 2008, the home that Harry is in, there’s some investigations. They find out that he and the others there have been in deplorable living conditions. John, there’s locks on the heaters so they can’t use them if they need them.

John Bytheway:               03:33                   Oh man.

Hank Smith:                      03:33                   They are gonna shut down this home. 33 of these mentally handicapped adults are going to need somewhere to go. They have nowhere to go. A caseworker calls Megan and Cody. She said, there’s someone I think you should meet. He could be a good fit for your home. His name is Harry. He’s 76 years old, but he has the mental age of a five-year-old. Megan questioned how this could be a good fit. She has an eight year old, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. He was much, much older than anyone they had ever had in their home before, but Meghan trusted this caseworker and they set up a meeting. Okay, listen to this, John. This is what Megan writes. I remember walking into the office where Harry was sitting. He looked up at me and did the cutest chuckle laugh. She said, I smiled and laughed back. This sweet old man who was just four feet, eight inches tall.

John Bytheway:               04:34                   Hmm.

Hank Smith:                      04:35                   From the parking lot. Megan calls Cody and says, I’m bringing Grandpa home. They learned a little bit more about Harry. And within just a month, they were packing up Harry’s few belongings and were moving him from this very unpleasant place where he had been hidden away for so long and he settled easily into his new home. I would love to tell you all of this, John. He chuckles and giggles. He loves to have a good time. He loves John Wayne movies. He wants his meals on time. He wants to be in bed precisely at 8:00 PM, and he wants to get up as early as possible. Says Megan tries to hold him off and says, please be quiet and wait until 6:30 AM to get dressed. So he has two clocks in view and his clothes in hand. When the clock hits 6:30, he now can begin to dress. He starts calling Megan and Cody, mom and dad and their parents, grandma and grandpa, just like the other kids in the house. As Megan and Cody learn more about him, they find out he literally has no family. Unlike these other clients, there’s no history here. I guess Megan and Cody’s children started asking, who is Harry gonna spend eternity with?

John Bytheway:               05:48                   Wow. I think I know where you’re going.

Hank Smith:                      05:52                   An idea was born as Megan called it a feeling. A feeling that Harry should be part of their family, their eternal family, John, there’s a lot of details here, and things just start falling into place where Cody is spending time with a bishop who’s interested, and then a lawyer friend who says, I think I could help with that. Finally, in March of 2015, at the age of 82, Harry is legally adopted into Megan and Cody’s family. Megan asked him, do you know what it means to be adopted? Harry said, it means I don’t have to worry anymore. John, one thing they decide is that Harry does not need to be baptized, but get this, he’s going to need a name and a blessing. This is kind of an unusual event, isn’t it? On a Sunday, Harry walked to the front of the chapel with the help of his father who had just celebrated his 38th birthday.

John Bytheway:               06:52                   Hmm.

Hank Smith:                      06:53                   The Ward had embraced and then fallen in love with Harry, and they looked with joy on this occasion. He was surrounded by uncles, grandfathers, and friends, all of which were younger than him and his father gave him a name and a blessing.

John Bytheway:               07:11                   Imagine that.

Hank Smith:                      07:13                   Then, like I told you at the beginning of the story, John, on May 2nd, 2015, with his mother and his father, his 12-year-old sister, his two brothers, his aunts, his uncles, his grandparents, even his great grandmother who is just three years older than him,

John Bytheway:               07:33                   His great-grandmother.

Hank Smith:                      07:36                   Harry kneels at an altar and is sealed to his family, to his eternal family. Diane writes, this mentally handicapped orphan boy was sealed for time and all eternity to his new family. It was a story 82 years in the making. Beautiful. Diane writes, it warms my heart to hear that when he passes the computer and the picture of his family all dressed in white in the temple, he points at it, laughs and says, that was fun. Yes, Harry eternity is fun. John, Megan and Cody Searle adopted their son, Harry. John, what do you think?

John Bytheway:               08:19                   I’ve never heard anything like that, but it makes me think about the importance of feeling connected to a family. Isn’t that a great message?

Hank Smith:                      08:27                   Yeah.

John Bytheway:               08:27                   Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      08:28                   And John, that’s what we’re talking about this week on followHIM is sections 129 through 132. Connections. Eternal connections.

John Bytheway:               08:36                   Eternal. Yeah, and that’s the only case I’ve ever heard of your parents being 30 years younger than you are. 40 years younger than you are. Great story.

Hank Smith:                      08:46                   John, like I said, that’s what we’re spending our time on our podcast this week. We are with Sister Brittany Chapman Nash, and wow, John does she know a lot. She’s going to help us with a bit of a difficult topic, which is polygamy, plural marriage, in Section 132, and she does an incredible job with that. You can find it wherever you get your podcast. Then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.